Posted on 04/13/2006 11:33:44 PM PDT by raygun
ESA's Venus Express has returned the first-ever images of the hothouse planets south pole from a distance of 206 452 kilometres, showing surprisingly clear structures and unexpected detail. The images were taken 12 April during the spacecrafts initial capture orbit after successful arrival on 11 April 2006.
Engineers have lost no time in switching on several of the instruments and yesterday the VMC (Venus Monitoring Camera) and VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) imaged, for the first time in space history, the southern hemisphere of Venus as the spacecraft passed below the planet in an elliptical arc.
(Excerpt) Read more at esa.int ...
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA | 5/1/07 | ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Posted on 05/01/2007 6:37:55 AM EDT by sig226
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1826398/posts
Double vortex at Venus South Pole unveiled!
European Space Agency | 27 June 2006
Posted on 07/02/2006 3:25:19 AM EDT by A. Pole
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659205/posts
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